MS Dhoni likes the toe of his bat to be round says Mahesh Ransubhe

Over the years we have seen strange but strong relationships between cricketers and the gears they equip themselves with before stepping onto the 22 yards. While some tend to be particular about the colour of their tools, some favour to like a certain shape. Call these superstitions or logical preferences, different cricketers have different choices as far as their bats are concerned.

Mahesh Ransubhe a professional in the bat making and repairing industry shared his experiences and thoughts. Ransubhe has had the privilege of repairing bats of some of the biggest names in cricket which includes the likes of Indian skipper Virat Kohli, English all-rounder Ben Stokes who went for a whopping 14.5 crores during the 2017 auctions and Kedar Jadhav who is enjoying a good time with the bat in this edition of the Indian Premier League.

Before trying his hands in the business, Mahesh played the game of cricket for a long period of time. His decision to become a bat manufacturer was because of the solitary reason of staying connected to the beautiful game.

The ever so popular Mahendra Singh Dhoni is one of Ransubhe’s favourite cricketers and during his interview with Sportswallah, he spoke about the time when he got a chance to repair the legendary captain’s bat. “I met MS Dhoni during India-England ODI series in Pune. He wanted the bat round at the toe. Generally, cricketers prefer the toe to be straight.”

Ransubhe also admitted to being nervous while his encounter with Dhoni and the reason being his stature.  He said “MS Dhoni is a very big player. He was the Indian cricket team captain for long. That is always at the back of the mind while repairing his bat.”

Mahesh also got the opportunity to lay his hands upon Ben Stokes’ bat, the player who became the costliest overseas player ever to play in the cash-rich tournament going by the name of the IPL. Fortunately enough for Ransubhe, just seven days after he repaired the Englishman’s bat, Stokes hammered a ruthless 103 to sink the Gujarat Lions at Pune.

“Rahul Tripathi had told Stokes about me and he wanted me to repair one of his bats. When he saw the bat, he was happy with the work and out of happiness, gave Rs 4500,” said Ransubhe.

Despite being a businessman, he serves the Indian cricket team for free. He does not charge a single penny for repairing the bats of Indian cricketers which completely depicts the attachment he continues to have with cricket and why he chose this profession.